St. Catherine of Siena and the Triumph of the Church

[Vouthon]

A few days ago, I wrote a post concerning the “Ages of the Ecclesia” as outlined by St. Bonaventure [the Seraphic Doctor] in his Collationes on the Hexaemeron, which included an anticipated “Triumph” of the Church on earth prior to the advent of Antichrist:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=103750

The Triumph of the Church is one of the single most persistent themes in the private revelations of many ecclesiastically approved saints and mystics.

Today, I will focus my attention upon another Doctor of the Church who, like St. Bonaventure, also referred to this future period of great peace amounting to a Second Pentecost: St. Catherine of Siena. In the Vita (biography) of her life by Blessed Raymond of Capua, we find a record of the following prophecy:

books.google.co.uk/books?id=3zAqCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT176&lpg=PT176&dq=catherine+of+siena+after+the+tempest&source=bl&ots=oMGStZk-my&sig=sgDsoPJifQRfxB4Q4zpvUFBov0c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi23OvjlMDRAhVFzRQKHWu6Ay4Q6AEIHjAC#v=onepage&q=catherine%20of%20siena%20after%20the%20tempest&f=false

**"…After she had foretold the things just described, when she was in Pisa, I said, curious to know more, “Tell me, dearest mother; but what will happen to the church after all of these disasters?”

And she answered,

"After all these tribulations and miseries, in a way beyond all human understanding, God will purify holy Church by awakening the spirit of the elect. This will lead to such an improvement in the Church of God and such a renewal in the lives of her holy pastors that at the mere thought of it my spirit exalts in the Lord.
​

The bride who is now ugly and Ill-clothed will then, as I have told you before, be most beautiful, adorned with precious gems, and covered with the diadem of all the virtues. All the faithful will rejoice to be honoured by such pastors, and even unbelievers, attracted by the sweet odour of Jesus Christ, will return to the Catholic fold and be converted to the true Pastor and Bishop of their souls.

Give thanks to the Lord, therefore, who after the tempest win give his Church a period of splendid calm".

…

Catherine never, never, never in public or in private affixed any times to the future events that she predicted. On the contrary, I always found her very reserved about this; and even when I questioned her about some of her statements I was never able to find out any exact times. She left everything in the hands of Divine Providence…"
**

 

[LittleFlower378]

Interesting, thanks.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I would gather that this ‘age of the Holy Spirit’ will come after our present ‘age of the Son’

 

[FollowChrist34]

Pray for us, Catherine of Siena.

(and… of course she nailed it…)

 

[Vouthon]

I would gather that this ‘age of the Holy Spirit’ will come after our present ‘age of the Son’

Not necessarily.

Christ is at the centre of history; he is not confined to any single age and the Holy Spirit has been active throughout the ages “renewing the face of the earth”, so we cannot confine the Persons of the Trinity to specific Ages. Every “age of the Church” is an age of the Spirit and Jesus and the Father.

However the Spirit will be particularly active in the Era of Peace as He was at the First Pentecost.

St. Bonaventure spoke of “seven ages of the church” mirroring seven ages in the Old Testament. There is no tripartite age of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Church doesn’t accept this latter theory, for the reason I’ve stated.

The “age of peace” is most often associated with the Virgin Mary - just as she prepared the way for Christ’s first coming, God has intended for her to become particularly pre-eminent before his Second Coming, to ready the hearts of the faithful, as St. Louis de Montfort stated and also Venerable Mary of Agreda:

**“It was revealed to me that through the intercession of the Mother of God, all heresies will disappear. This victory over heresies has been reserved by Christ for His Blessed Mother…Before the Second Coming of Christ, Mary must, more than ever, shine in mercy, might and grace in order to bring unbelievers into the Catholic Faith.”

- Venerable Mary Agreda**

This explains the reason, perhaps, as to why she appeared to the child visionaries of Fatima one hundred years ago this year in 1917, promising an eventual “period of peace” in which her "Immaculate Heart will triumph.